NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

Officially known as the Inaugural “CarCash Mudsummer Classic by CNBC Primes the Profit 150,” Eldora Speedway played host to the first premier-level NASCAR dirt race in more than 40 years. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series’ warriors mounted their attack on the famed Western Ohio clay oval -- Eldora Speedway. NASCAR’s premiere series competed last on dirt on September 30, 1970, in Raleigh North Carolina when a guy named Richard Petty won the “Home State 200” at the one-mile State Fairgrounds Speedway. History was written on a comfortable mid-week July night when NASCAR and Eldora unleashed an event unlike any seen in several years.

The beginning, a new dawn for NASCAR.

NASCAR announced the 2013 schedule for the Camping World Truck Series on November 28, 2012. Racing history was made as the series headed to Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio (the half-mile dirt oval owned by three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart), for the first NASCAR race on dirt in 43 years. With the date set at July 24, it would run on the week leading into the Indianapolis Brickyard race weekend, a very popular time in the racing world.

“We’ve had talks about getting the trucks on dirt in the past,” said Steve O’Donnell, NASCAR senior vice president of racing operations during the official announcement. “The door-to-door racing that our truck series is known for, plus Eldora’s popularity and Tony’s dedication to putting on great shows for the fans is a perfect fit. We’ll have a maximum starting field of 30 trucks at Eldora.”

Stewart added, “I’ve always joked around when people say, ‘What would you do if you could change the schedule?’ I always joke around about saying ‘I would add a dirt race.’ Now we’re fortunate enough to have the Truck Series at Eldora finally. It’s really a dream come true for us as not only a promoter, but I don’t think any of us really thought, like we mentioned since 1970, the national series have never been to a dirt track. To imagine that 42 years later we’re going to be taking a national NASCAR series back to a dirt track is a huge honor for us, something that everybody, including (the Eldora leadership) Roger Slack, Larry Kemp, and Larry Boos, everybody at Eldora, are extremely excited.

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“I think the race itself is going to be pretty exciting. We’ve seen what the Prelude to the Dream has done in the past, bringing in drivers that weren’t accustomed to running on dirt. I think with a little bit more favorable conditions we’ll be able to give the Truck Series a surface that’s going to be really competitive, very wide, at the same time going to give these guys an opportunity to learn something that’s a little bit different to them. I think it’s a great opportunity for not only the Truck Series regulars, but also with it being a Wednesday night race, having a lot of the Cup Series and Nationwide Series drivers, as well as younger drivers and veterans from the World of Outlaws, Late Models, and USAC drivers that will have an opportunity to land rides for that race. I think it’s going to be a great day. I think it’s going to be a very historic day for NASCAR and definitely for Eldora Speedway. I think the racing has a lot of potential to be very, very good. We have a very wide racing surface. I think that’s always provided great racing no matter what divisions we’ve had there in the past,” finished Stewart. And, like so many other times, he was right, historic.

The “CarCash MudSummer Classic” 150 grueling side-by-side laps

Former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Champion Austin Dillon drove to the front with authority and took the inaugural Car Cash Mudsummer Classic by CNBC Prime’s the Profit at Eldora (OH) Speedway. A mid-week special that would feature 150 grueling laps for the A Main, along with five heat races to set the field of 30 trucks. Dillon would waste no time coming from his 19th starting position getting to the front by the races halfway point only to see an overtime green-white-checkered finish to complete the task.

Veteran racer Kenny Schrader brought the field to the green from the pole starting position with veteran dirt Late Model driver, Jarred Landers alongside. As the field of 30 scuffled through turn one Schrader easily set the pace. For 15 laps, Schrader held the command until Timothy Peters came up and grabbed the top spot. It would last 23 laps until young gun Kyle Larson sailed from the 13th starting position to the lead at lap 39. He held the top spot until the end of the first 60-lap segment, which allow the teams a chance to make adjustments to their trucks. At the first break it was Larson followed by Dave Blaney, Peters, Dillon, and Landers who rounding out the top five. Back under green with a double file restart, Blaney would take a look, but quickly dropped back in line as Larson seemed to have the field covered. While Larson was cruising, Austin Dillon picked off first Peters and a short few laps later, Blaney. Before long he was bearing down on the leader as they caught up to lapped traffic. Once traffic came into play, Dillon was able to make up the lost ground and the race for the top spot was on. By lap 89, Dillon put his Chevrolet in front and set sail. At the end of the second 50 lap segment it was Dillon over Larson, Ryan Newman, Blaney, and Brendan Gaughan.

Now with just 40 to go, Dillon set the pace as Larson once again set chase along with Newman, who was a very close third. As Newman and Larson would go side by side, it allowed Dillon to cut his own path. However, at lap 122 Larson would get a nose in front while in traffic, only to see Dillon bust back on top. Of the race’s six cautions, three would fall in the last segment, with two of those inside 10 laps to go. The last would fall on lap 149 setting up the green-white-checker finish for all the Eldora marbles. With it all on the line, Dillon showed his years of Dirt Late Model experience riding high on the Eldora banks right against the wall. He got a great restart and Larson could only watch as the former series Champion drove under the checkers. Newman would secure Third with Joey Coulter Fourth, followed by Gaughan rounding out the top five.

“It’s pretty amazing,” explained Dillon. “To win the first inaugural is pretty special; they had me dig up some Eldora dirt for the NASCAR Hall of Fame. This just feels amazing. It was such a good show for the fans. I think tonight was a success for the fans, NASCAR, and thanks to Tony Stewart for putting it together. I was pretty confidant coming into this thing. I was surprised I was able to move up so fast. I just kept turning off the wall to get some traction and keep my momentum up. I did a couple slide jobs there and it got me in front. I knew the first segment when my spotter said ten to go if I could get to fourth that would put me on the outside for the next segment restart. The track grip got better as the track blew off. We made a small adjustment on air pressure just because I was a little tight. Then we just made little minor adjustments as the race went on just to keep up with the racetrack,” finished the happy race winner.

“I was getting through traffic really good, and I spent a few laps behind that truck, I think it was the 77,” explained Larson. “I was just getting a little bit impatient, and I got into his left rear with my right front. It kind of jerked the wheel right out of my hand and got me all out of shape. Austin was able to scoot by and that’s what kind of killed the race for us.”

NASCAR’s outlook of the final product

As of this writing, NASCAR still is evaluating its first dirt race in more than 40 years, but Senior Vice President Steve O’Donnell strongly indicated the day after the Mudsummer Classic at Eldora Speedway that it will return. “We felt it over delivered on everything,” he said. “It was a terrific turnout, and we were really happy with how the competitors performed, so all in all a great night for NASCAR and the sport. We still want to go through the garage area and meet with team owners and competitors and get their feedback, and we want to see the ratings. So far everything we’ve seen, it’s something we’d certainly entertain doing again for 2014.”

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Speed Channel said the race received a household rating of 1.2, making it the 10th most-watched NASCAR truck race ever on the network. With a total of 1.4 million viewers, it was the most watched sports program of the day on cable. Its NCWTS Setup show had 1 million viewers, the most-watched prerace show in Speed history. The first national series run on dirt since September 30, 1970, drew a sellout crowd of more than 17,000 to Tony Stewart’s half-mile oval in rural Rossburg, Ohio.

Ratings were due shortly after the race and O’Donnell said Eldora drew a record social media response for a truck race, according to NASCAR’s Fan Engagement Center. Both “Eldora” and “Norm Benning,” a 61-year-old, who earned the final slot in the main event via the last-chance heat race, were trending nationally on Twitter during the race. Fans in the Eldora grandstands were chanting at NASCAR officials at the Wednesday night race to bring a Sprint Cup event to the track. O’Donnell said there was no imminent plan to put the Nationwide or Cup series on dirt, but that it might be feasible for stock cars to slide around Eldora as the heavy trucks were Wednesday night. “We’ve been trying to get to shorter tracks with the trucks in general, and you look at trucks and the dirt, and it felt more of a natural fit,” he said. “Certainly I think a Nationwide car could do that, but the focus has been trucks and will continue to be for the near future and keep that as a unique opportunity for the truck series.” O’Donnell went on to compare Eldora’s place in NASCAR with the NHL’s Winter Classic and said there’d been no discussions with other dirt tracks about hosting a NASCAR national series. “I think it’s probably a little premature,” he said. “It’s something that’s certainly unique and special, and we want to keep that element of it with whatever we do.”

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The final result came down to an exciting finish, a lot of very close racing, and a lot of very happy race fans. It has also been talked about by the fans that could not get a valuable ticket as one of the best telecast coverage events they have ever watch. A lot of very good inside information was passed along to the race fans. NASCAR, back to their roots, who would have ever thought?